April 17, 2012

Microsoft Wants To Build Skype Into Web Browsers

Microsoft is reportedly working on a new version of Skype to run in Web browsers, according to a recent job listing by the company.

Microsoft listed at least four job ads describing a "Skype for Browsers" project, looking for developers to bring the "Skype experience on to the Web."

"You will have a chance to integrate existing Skype solutions on to the web with the support of the backend services build from the ground up using latest Microsoft technologies," Microsoft wrote in one of the job postings.

Some of the ads say the company is looking for developers with experience building HTML5-based applications.

Last summer, Skype hooked up with Facebook to handle the social network's video chat features. This version of Skype uses a plugin, as opposed to an HTML5 feature like the Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC) standard.

Mozilla showed off a demo recently of a video chat app built entirely using WebRTC standard. The demo shows two users signed in with BrowserID who start a video chat right in the browser.

Mozilla's video chat demo requires an experimental build of Firefox and uses "a custom API intended to simulate the getUserMedia and PeerConnection APIs currently being standardized." This means that Firefox having video chat capabilities is still under development.

Microsoft's plugin-free environment would mean a move away from a plugin-based Skype to a version that is built on web standards.

This version could make Skype calls possible for not just desktop browsers, but through tablets using the same standards as well.

Those who wish to apply for the Microsoft listing will need a bachelor or masters degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or similar.

"You will work in dynamical environment with the team of true professionals participating in defining, designing, developing, testing and documenting one of the most popular applications of the modern world," Microsoft wrote in the listing.

"You will work with colleagues in the Czech Republic on Browser related solutions cooperating closely with colleagues developing Skype cross platform core library in Estonia, the Audio / Video team in Sweden, the User Management team in Prague and web plug-in team in Palo Alto, US."